'Eat this, Not That' teaches would-be dieters how to swap empty calories for healthier food

January 2, 11:43 AMBook ExaminerMichelle Kerns

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If the Flat Belly Diet isn't for you but you'd still like to shed weight in the new year (preferably with as little effort as possible), then you might want to take a look at David Zinczenko's Eat This, Not That series.

Each book focuses on simple food decisions that you can make -- at fast food restaurants, at the supermarket, with your kids -- to avoid the empty calories that you may not be aware were in some of your tastiest, and fattiest, foods.

Eat This, Not That: Thousands of Simple Food Swaps that can save You 10, 20, 30 pounds -- or More! is divided into eight colorful chapters that each specifically target a dangerous food area, such as beverages, eating during stressful situations, eating out, and holiday chowing (oh, the irony!). The book doesn't just give you a blanket, "Eat fish and poultry at restaurants;" rather, specific recommendations about popular fast food and restaurant items are compared by name. When you get the nitty gritty on some of your favorite eating-out choices ("The Aussie Cheese Fries at Outback's Steak House has 2900 calories?!") you may find yourself unable to eat them again without an accompanying mental vision of your arteries clogging up with every bite.

 

Eat This, Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide: The No-Diet Weight Loss Solution functions along the same lines as the first book, providing readers with specific information about how to choose healthier, lighter calorie breakfast cereals, frozen entrees, and more.

And who doesn't need to get their kids to eat better? Eat This, Not That! For Kids!: Thousands of Simple Food Swaps That Can Save Your Child From Obesity gives parents no-nonsense information about the worst restaurant kids' meals, healthy foods that aren't, and foods that your child should be eating every day.

The strength of the Eat This, Not That series, is that it addresses the average American right where they are at; a book that recommends everyone go vegan and eat tofu burgers instead of Whoppers may have excellent advice, but will languish on store shelves doing no one any good. However, a book that acknowledges, yes, people are going to eat fast food and frozen pizzas and grocery store ice cream and gives them pertinent information about those foods -- eat a Big Mac, not a Whopper if you want a burger and save yourself a couple hundred calories -- is something that will actually be used.